A tabloid newspaper controlled by the Chinese government has accused US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of betraying his own Christian faith by suggesting that the covid-19 virus originated in a Chinese laboratory.
This week, Pompeo insisted that there was "significant evidence" that the first person to be infected was from a Chinese biomedical lab. Pompeo has since admitted that the government "doesn't have certainty" that this is the case, partly due to Chinese Communist Party's refusal to cooperate with world health experts.
China's Global Times publication ran an editorial on Monday accusing Pompeo of violating his own Christian faith by peddling the theory.
It read: “[H]is lying for political purposes is contrary to his label as a so-called ‘devout Christians. It is widely known that Christian doctrine opposes lying - it's a sin. A false witness shall not go unpunished. And he that utters lies shall perish. From the Ten Commandments, the ninth says, ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor'."
Many evangelical leaders quickly came to the defense of Pompeo, accusing China of blatant hypocrisy and highlighting the country's brutal oppression of Christianity:
Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, told The Christian Post: "What audacity for a regime that persecuted Christians so viciously to try and use the Bible to cover for their own lies.
“There is no bigotry like communist bigotry. China thinks that they can shutter churches, disappear pastors, and create an ever-present state of war with religion and then dole out advice to Christians. Well, here's some advice to the Communists: get your own house in order. This propaganda only demonstrates one thing: whatever Pompeo is doing is working, exactly as intended."
